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Soggetto (It.: ‘subject’)

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As defined in Le istitutioni harmoniche (1558) by Zarlino, who was among the first to apply the word ‘subject’ to music, a soggetto was any existing material on which a piece was based, including either a chosen theme for imitative treatment or a borrowed cantus firmus. A later Italian, G.B. Martini, defined it in part ii of his ...